Archive for November, 2018

Now that I am living in Columbus I thought that it was the perfect time to dig into some of OSU’s old yearbooks. I decided to start with 1965 for no particular reason although Teruyoshi Hayashida’s Take Ivy was written that year, but I won’t pretend that is why chose it. I was just pretty sure that it would have some cool pics and I don’t think that I was wrong.

Maybe you will find some vintage inspiration in the pictures below or even a gentle reminder of things not to do (like wear black shoes!). I myself was reminded that getting haircuts is always cool, to have more fun, and to always wear sunglasses when possible. I was also left reminiscing on student life and all the good parts of college days. Lots more OSU yearbooks to go through tuned!

Yes you can wear white socks with your loafers. However, if you want to look cool doing it like the guys in all those vintage pictures you want a certain type of white athletic sock. Its not your typical modern white athletic sock.The white sock to wear with your penny loafers is the Wigwam 625 (see here). Also they aren’t really white. They are off-white and after a few washes the color gets closer to cream. They aren’t cotton either like the white athletic sock that we know. They are a wool blend (63% Wool/37% Nylon). They are thick too. Almost like a wool sock that you would wear with hiking boots. One other notable feature is that they don’t have any elastic. It’s hard to believe that these were what kids wore to play sports in the 1950s-1960s.

I wear these socks a lot and thought I could offer a pretty accurate overview for those who have not. To me Wigwams and Weejuns are like peanut butter & jelly, but let me just say to those who have never worn this style of sock before that it may be an acquired taste type of thing. Wigwam 625s are scratchy and itchy at first, but this goes away after a few washes or did for me. They don’t have any elastic so surprise surprise they don’t stay up well… at all. So you will find yourself bending over to pull them up throughout the day. They are also thicker than the modern white sock, but I think that is one of their best attributes. I weathered through all of this and somehow they grew on me. Now I find them both comfortable and comforting.

If you want to wear a white sock with your loafers the Wigwam 625 is that white sock. As I said it is really more of a cream color and they are wool blend which gives them some nice texture. Alternatively you could substitute any cream colored wool sock with a little thickness if the classics don’t work out for you. These socks are not only the right sock for the penny loafer look, but they also look cool with canvas sneakers, mocs, boots, and almost any other casual shoe. While I can’t imagine playing a game of basketball in them like they did back in the day you can count me as a fan.

Time for a teaser. I currently have a handful of sweaters in need of repair. I would blame it on the sweaters if it were not clear that I am at fault as they all suffer the same injury and there is but one cure. They need elbow patches.These holes definitely tell a story. The story is about how I sit at my desk. My right hand is holding a mouse 99% of the time. My left elbow resting or rather bracing against my desk. It is interesting how our posture not only effects our body, but also our clothing. I may need to revisit my desk posture to insure that I am doing minimal damage to both.

A quick internet search shows me that adding elbow patches is not a difficult task. However, I have misjudged more than one menswear project in life or maybe just underestimated my disinterest actually doing alterations. Either way I thought that it would be smart if I reached out to see if anyone had any advice. If you have been down this road before please let me know!

I almost didn’t include Brooks Brothers on the best trad clothing stores post last week. The reason being that they don’t offer any sack cuts with a 3/2 roll minus that one blazer. It turns out that I was wrong.

Before I excluded Brooks from last week’s post I thought that I might as well at least visit the site to confirm. There I found two 3/2 roll sack tweed sport coats. I was impressed which is a little sad to say, but it’s still encouraging. Something is almost always better than nothing.

The first thing that actually caught my eye about these jackets was the name. I noticed that Brooks is using the BrooksTweed label. BrooksTweed is described as, “a unique blend of Scotland’s soft Shetland and rugged cheviot wools.” I didn’t think that they used this term lately but on the site there are other BrooksTweeds on sale so presumably they are from the previous season. Regardless I like the term just like I like the BrooksFlannel labels (I have a few cool vintage ones to share soon). Note not all BrooksTweeds are 3/2 roll sacks.

I thought the tweeds above were great. The colors are versatile and classic. The black and white may be as close to timeless as one can get. I prefer it to the brown as the brown reads a little warm for my taste, but I may change my mind if I saw it paired with khaki chinos. The price ($498) is not bad. I wish they had patch pockets, but like I said these are encouraging to see. There is no hook vent but it is in the center and there are swelled edges. Finally, they are made up in their Regent fit which is somewhere between the classic fit of the Madison and the very slim Milano fit.

In the end it turns out that Brooks Brothers still sells 3/2 roll sack sport coats. They even look nice and are fairly priced. Overall this is a positive sign from Brooks to know that they have not completely written off the sack style. Maybe just maybe I will check their site more frequently and maybe they will have stuff like this more frequently.